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GENERAL NEWS www.kitchenwarenews.com n JULY 2016 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 9 Yellowstone Park Foundation and Bernzomatic Launch Industry-Leading Camping Cylinder Recycling Program The Yellowstone Park Foundation and Bernzomatic, the industry leader in handheld torches and fuel cylinders, today announced the launch of a camping fuel cylinder recycling program for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. This sustainability initiative includes the rollout of a new state-of-the-art recycling vehicle as well as ongoing education for park visitors. This program aims to solve an environmental challenge facing Yellowstone: Many of the park's millions of annual visitors use propane cylinders to light camping stoves and grills during their stay, but often don't know how to properly dispose of the cylinders. Visitors tend to leave them near campsites or in the incorrect recycling containers, rather than properly disposing of them in designated propane recycling bins. "Proper recycling of all camping materials — including the fuel cylinders used each season — has always been a focus in Yellowstone; however, the park's original infrastructure could not keep up with the number of cylinders used," said Karen Kress, president of Yellowstone Park Foundation. "We are grateful for Bernzomatic's partnership in uncovering a long-term cylinder recycling solution that also makes the process simpler for park visitors." As part of the program, Bernzomatic invested significant resources to overhaul Yellowstone's existing cylinder reclaim vehicle. The company's engineering, product development, safety and regulatory teams collaborated to create this first-of-its-kind design with enhanced safety features. The new vehicle now removes residual propane from discarded fuel cylinders and processes them for recycling 20 times faster than the original vehicle. "We are proud to partner with Yellowstone Park Foundation on a sustainability initiative that not only educates park visitors on safe cylinder disposal, but also enhances the beauty of this iconic national park," said Mike Verne, general manager of consumer products for Worthington Industries, parent company to Bernzomatic. "This partnership is a natural extension of our Bernzomatic CylinderSafe™ program, the first and only public education program on non-refillable fuel cylinder safety. Through this initiative with Yellowstone, we want to make it as simple as possible for park visitors to access important cylinder safety and disposal information and reduce waste in the parks." To make the recycling process simpler, Yellowstone and Bernzomatic are also renovating the park's propane recycling bin infrastructure by making the bins more easily identifiable, distinguishable and uniform in color. The recycling bins will have updated signage that clearly communicates the type of cylinders that are acceptable to discard in the bins. The organizations are also working to educate park visitors about cylinder recycling by sharing program information on their websites and social channels and across park lodges, visitor centers and local convenience stores KN Annieglass Releases Winter 2016 Collection Annieglass, the handcrafted American luxury tabletop serveware f rom internationally renowned California artist Annie Morhauser, has announced the release of the Winter 2016 Collection and the introduction of the new line Mod. The Annieglass Winter 2016 Collection is designed to evoke heartfelt warmth among family and f riends and appreciation for the art of small batch craft. The Winter 2016 Collection encourages both elegant entertaining and the growing trend called "grazing," where guests sample an array of hearty appetizers and side dishes. Annieglass celebrates 33 years of integrity and devotion to American craft and the ancient process of glass slumping, rendering each piece a unique work of art. Versatile and durable, Annieglass luxury tableware is utilized by restaurants and resorts throughout the country, can withstand the dishwasher, and is sustainably handcrafted in California's Central Coast. Annieglass retains its natural textures f rom the handmade ceramic molds and as a personal touch, showcases a hand-engraved signature on the back of each piece. Annieglass has earned a permanent place in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, in the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland, and at the Corning Museum of Glass. Annieglass is available at nationwide luxury retailers including Bloomingdale's and Nieman Marcus. As a testament to its artistry, Annieglass can be found on the tabletops of famed Silicon Valley restaurant, Manresa, owned by Michelin two-star chef, David Kinch. Fulfilling the need for a f resh, contemporary interpretation, the newly created Mod line is a youthful departure from traditional Annieglass pieces. The new Mod ovals look as if they have literally been dipped in 24k gold or genuine platinum. The variation between the muted glass and shiny precious metals radiates sparkle. Each piece in the Winter 2016 Collection offers an exquisite frame for both opulent entertaining and casual gatherings. KN Ad Campaign Calls Attention to Food Waste The Ad Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council have launched "Save The Food," a major national public service campaign to combat food waste f rom its largest source—consumers, who collectively waste more food than grocery stores, restaurants or farms. The initiative hopes to encourage consumers to reduce the amount of food they trash in their homes, thereby saving the water, energy and money that are lost along with it. "As it turns out, we can't blame the epidemic of food waste on our kids' aversion to vegetables. We're all culprits here, tossing out staggering amounts of food in kitchens nationwide," said NRDC President Rhea Suh. "But with small steps, we can save large amounts of food —and along with it, money and precious natural resources. The more food we save, the more we can share with hungry Americans, the more we can reduce climate pollution, and the more water won't go to waste." In the U.S., 40 percent of all food goes uneaten each year, at a cost of $162 billion annually. Consumers are responsible for 40 percent of this waste—more than any other part of the supply chain. It's a problem that costs the average family of four roughly $1,500 per year. This waste also has massive environmental impacts. Food is the single largest component of solid waste in U.S. landfills, and about 25 percent of our nation's fresh water is used to grow food that gets trashed. On top of that, if global food waste was a country, it would have the largest carbon footprint after the U.S. and China, as a result of carbon pollution created f rom growing, cooling, transporting and disposing of uneaten food. "Altering consumer awareness and perception around the issue of food waste could have significant environmental, social and economic impact on our country," said Lisa Sherman, Ad Council President & CEO. "By taking just a few simple steps around food storage, preservation, and use, the home cook has an incredible opportunity to reduce waste and minimize their environmental footprint." The 'Save the Food' PSAs were developed pro bono by SapientNitro. The TV ad chronicles the life of a single strawberry— f rom the farm to the supermarket to its ultimate destination: the trash. Michael Giacchino's Academy Award Winning soundtrack f rom the critically acclaimed movie "Up" serves as the music for the spot thanks to a donation f rom Disney. In addition to the TV spot, the campaign includes out of home, print and web advertising, all of which are running entirely in space and time donated by the media. The integrated campaign also includes new social communities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest and support from key partners including Getty Images, BuzzFeed, Social Native, Upworthy and notable influencers like chef Tom Colicchio. "The new creative addresses a basic disconnect in our homes. No one likes to waste, but the vast majority of Americans don't think about food waste as a problem," said Gary Koepke, Chief Creative Officer for North America of SapientNitro. "The Save The Food campaign not only highlights the amount of food we waste in America, but also the effort and resources it takes to bring food into our homes. Ultimately the campaign will help change our social norms and behaviors around food waste." All campaign assets direct audiences to SaveTheFood.com, where they can learn more about the consequences of food waste and find resources on how to reduce the amount of food they waste themselves. This includes tips on making use of leftovers, properly storing different foods, and developing meal and shopping plans. "It's not just good food getting thrown away that upsets me as a chef," said Tom Colicchio, head judge on Bravo's hit reality cooking series Top Chef, chef/owner of Craft restaurants & 'wichcraft, and co- founder of Food Policy Action. "It's that everything that goes into producing that food—the land, the water, the climate pollution, the labor, and the love it takes to get it to the plate—all of it also gets wasted. We have a great opportunity to fix this problem. Stopping food waste starts at home." The new campaign will be unveiled today at the 2nd Annual Food Tank Summit in Washington, D.C., before top food industry academics, policy-makers, farmers, chefs, and other stakeholders. The effort is the latest step in a national trend to examine and reduce food practices that result in waste. This past September, the Obama Administration announced the nation's first-ever food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50 percent cut by 2030; days later the U.N. set a similar target internationally. A report released last month by ReFED – a collaboration of over 30 business, government, investor, foundation and nonprofit leaders – identified consumer education campaigns as one of the best ways to cut U.S. food waste and put the country on track to its reduction target. "Consumer awareness and education is the most important solution to reduce wasted food," said Priceline.com co-founder Jesse Fink, now food waste evangelist and Trustee of the Fink Family Foundation, seed funder of Ad Council and ReFED initiatives. "The Ad Council campaign will be the major contributor to attitude and behavioral change." KN

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